Lighting - Research and Construction

1. Lighting Research - SA

Mise-en-scene is a French theatrical term translated into ''placing on stage'' used to describe the arrangement of everything the appears  into a frame or a scene; it is the visual information in front of the camera that communicates crucial information/clues through to the audience of the film. Every aspect of the Mise-en-scene of a film consists of  a concealed meaning/ connotation which enables the viewer to ether construct their own connotation of the director of the film to send signals to its audience guiding their emotional reactions. There are 5 significant elements that characterize the French term including natural as well as artificial details such as:

-Settings and Props.

-Positioning of characters and objects.

-Costume, Hair and Makeup.

-Facial Expressions as well as body language.

INSERTING A POWERPOINT ON THESE !

and finally the lighting and color within a frame which I will research into more depth within this page. 

I have set this task to myself as I believed it is essential to gain knowledge into different types and styles of lighting, lighting equipment and how it is arranged in exchange of provoking certain emotions within the film audience. I  consider this task important as it will also help me gain knowledge as I will be looking into different movie scenes to go accompany the lighting styles I have looked into. I will share my research findings with my other group members in order to improve their understanding also. Overall this task will be beneficial to the final outcome of our Psychological Thriller film as lighting is apart of its codes and conventions

Direction of Lighting - By Sara Avramovska (SA)

Website Example:

- http://lowel.tiffen.com/edu/glossary/  (Glossary of Lighting Terms in order to improve our lighting vocabulary and knowledge)
- http://production.4filmmaking.com/lighting.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_lighting_instrument (Stage lighting instrument)
- http://itsallaboutthelight.weebly.com/
- http://portals.studentnet.edu.au/literacy/Minisites/SCEGGSDarlinghurstrevised/vliteracy/lighting.htm

• Bokeh Lighting (Google Definition)  ''  is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".

• Frontal Lighting - ether originates from behind the camera or by the camera itself (built in flash.) This direction of light lacks in drama within the scene therefore it can appear less alluring.Frontal lighting illuminates your subjects , however it eliminates shadows giving the mise-en-scene a flatten appearance. Shadows are created behind the subject that the camera is focused on. As shadows advantage the shape and a form of a subject, frontal lighting contradicts their benefits as the shadows are eliminated therefore achieving a ambiguous effect.

• Under lighting - Under lighting is an approach of lighting where the lighting source is placed below the subject within the scene.It can be used to disfigure the face of the character within the frame and Psychological Thrillers, Thrillers in general and Horror films are very fond of this technique. 

• Top Lighting: ''When the upper areas of a subject are lit (outlined) by a source generating from above it.'' the lighting source is placed directly above the subject, and this technique is useful when aiming to highlight the features of the subject. (make them stand out) which creates a rather sinister effect. 

• Backlighting - is simply to ''illuminate from behind''. The light source is placed behind the subject which allows a new from of dimension while also allowing the ability to create silhouettes. Back lighting is useful for creating a shadowy effect (silhouette) which conceives a mysterious mood within the audience receiving the scene. 

• Side lighting (also known as cross lighting) - In pursuit of accentuating a subjects shape and form, side lighting admirable as the light falls on the subject within the mise-en-scene at approximately a  90 degree angle resulting in the one side of the subject being lighted during in which the other side is embraces by the shadows (strong contract created.This type of lighting direction allows the subject to illustrate a three dimensional sense. 

Why Is Lighting Important Within Films?! 

Within most of film scenes, the atmosphere is not individually based on the acting, however combined with anchorage; it is up to the quality of the lighting scheme that  contributes to the drama in pursuance of enhancing the actors interior and exterior emotions displayed by the visual image itself (the mise-en-scene). Lighting is able to reflect the characters mental state/hidden emotions which is necessary for our short film especially low key lighting as it enables suspicion and tension to be provoked necessary for Psychological Thrillers. Lighting is able to generate and trigger number of emotions within the film audience such as sad, happy, scared, angry, dangerous or mysterious as examples. However light placement, saturation, strength of brightness and contrast etc. are key elements of devoting these emotions.


The hardness or softness of lighting within the movie can affect the mood dramatically.

If you look at some if not all Hollywood movies, Hard Lighting and Soft Lighting is contained
within them.

•  Hard Lighting. When you imagine a bright sunny day, the shadows are dark and the edges of objects are very intense and sharp due to the sun giving off an intense light.This type of lighting is used in order within the background as well as the actor 
• Soft Lighting.  On an overcast day the shadows are very limited as a layer of clouds covers the sun.

The Three Point Lighting is the most basic set-up of all. The three point lighting consists of  the most dominant and usually the brightest which is the key light followed by fill light as well as backlight. The way in which this is positioned is, the key light is focused directly at the subject matter being ether the actor/actress or the object within the scene. The fill light is arranged opposite of the key light in the interest of accomplishing softer light by cutting down on shadows formed by the key light. The backlight is fixed behind the subject in order to separate it from the background. The Three Point Lighting provides the subject a sense of depth within the mise-en-scene however it does not provide a dramatic/intense contrast therefore it achieves light shadows behind the subject.  The back light helps to enhance the sense of depth within the shot which can also help to achieve a hollow effect especially around fine edges of the subject matter e.g. an actor/actress hair.

          

AN EXAMPLE OF A THREE POINT LIGHTING

• Four Point Lighting consists of Back, Background, Fill and Key lighting as displayed on the picture below. Similarly the three point lighting, it consists of a Back light, Fill and Key lighting source however its also consists of a fourth lighting source which is the background light. The background light is placed behind the subject and aimed directly at the background providing a mixture of light and dark. 

Back lighting: The main light source is from behind the character withing the mise-en-scene. It can be used to create silhouette

• Fill Light - is a type of lighting source used withing film as well as photography that highlights the detail of the main object within the scene with the exact detail met by eye in average lighting (normal everyday lighting). '' From that baseline of normality using more or less fill will make shadows seem lighter or darker than normal which will cause the viewer to react differently, by inferring both environmental and mood clues from the tone of the shadows.'' (Wikipedia) 
• Key Light is the main source of light within a photograph or a film and its purpose is to highlight ''the form and dimension of the subject'' (Wikipedia) The term Key Light is the most commonly used withing the two adjectives Low Key and High Key Lighting.   

     - High Key Light: pursues  to over light the subject to a point where the contrast is reduced massively from the lighting ration within the mise-en-scene in comparison to to Low Key Lighting.  This style is most commonly used withing the comedy and musical genre of film, especially within the classic Hollywood era for instance in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz.

     - Low Key Light. is fundamental for establishing the chiaroscuro effect which is simply an artistic term to describe an intense contrast between light and dark colors . This lighting effect is achieved by only using the key and back lighting which technically contradicts the high key lighting arrangements due to the fill light being positioned at a very low level causing the mise-en-scene to be covered in significantly large shadows. This lighting style is found most effective in many noir film productions for instance in Torch of Evil (1958) by the American producer Orson Welles,

  
                                      

Reference: http://www.chillertv.com/news/2015-10-16-how-to-create-atmosphere-using-lighting

Lighting Construction - EP

After watching back out clips from our first 'demon scene' shoot, we realised that many of the clips had come out far too dim and out of focus. Due to this, our group constructed a list of the shots we will need to recompose in order to achieve a high quality image.

    

1. Frame deconstruction and analysis

By Sara Avramovska (SA) 

Once we have filmed the demon-scene sequence, as a group we had organised the time to re-watch the clips we have established so far in order to organised them in term of shots we prefer to preserve and shots we choose to eliminate.  During the filming process, I had personally suggested that using a dimmed spot lighting source would be extremely helpful to enhancing the protagonist facial features and to avoid poor footage quality , however my group members reemphasized the fact that the scene is taking place at night therefore it did not seem logical to use spot lighting, to which I eventually agreed. However during the process of re-watching our clips, we have noticed that some of the footage we have established was flawed, on the computer screen it appeared grainy, too dark (a large amount of noise) and unclear as a result of poor lighting conditions which was unnoticeable on our filming camera. We have attempted to manipulate, fix this problem on Final Cut Pro by adjusting the exposure, contrast and brightness levels as well as color saturation however it only seemed to make matters worse and due to this we have decide to re-film certain scenes. In order to improve our shots, we will need to adjust the lighting exposure to a level where our protagonists facial features such as her  'eyes closing' as she falls asleep, 'eyes shockingly opening'' as the sleep paralysis sequence enters and ''her darting eyes' as she experiences sleep paralysis are prominent within the camera frame. All of the shots I have listed above are as equally important as they all resemble a sense realism. As I have said within my Sleep Paralysis Research PowerPoint,''The helplessness and vulnerability to defend yourself, can truly intensify the sleep paralysis experience above the level of normal and typical dreams. This could explain the reasoning behind why Sleep Paralysis hallucinations by the intruder are incredibly vivid'' and as the eyes are the only feature enabled to move, I believe it is extremely important for the motion to be captured 
as clear as possible within our scenes while obtaining the look of a night time-frame in order to intensify the experience within the viewers (our target audience). In order to achieve the sense of realism, we must use a spot light. In our re-shoots we will experiment using: 

- Side Lightning: in pursuit of accentuating the shape and form of our protagonist however placed at a slightly diagonal angle in order to avoid extremely harsh shadows while still obtaining soft contrast.  
             - Under Lighting: lighting source placed below the protagonist as she is laying down. (typical within the thriller genre.)

Furthermore, along with adjusting out use of light and its intensity, we will also need to consider adjusting the camera settings to manual and changing the shutter speed ''indicating the amount of time the camera exposes the sensor to light from the scene.'' If the speed shutter setting is off the color within our camera frame can change dis-organizing the continuity within our film. We also need to adjust the metering on the dSLR camera in order to achieve the expose we demand. 

2. Frame deconstruction and analysis

Ella Ponting (EP)

After watching back the clips from the demon-scene and arranging them in terms of the shots we should keep and the shots we should discard, we discovered that many of the shots appeared too dark and grainy. Due to our protagonist having dark coloured skin we needed to adjust the exposure to make sure that herself and facial features are prominent within the scene. This means, in order for us to obtain a clearer image we need to adjust the camera setting to manual focus, to do this we may also need to change the shutter speed as a higher shutter speed generally equates to sharper images. Whilst we do want to keep the dark, ominous setting we will need to use lighting such as the spotlight lights.

The most effective technique to use to enhance our protagonist's appearance on set, whilst keeping the dark, chilling atmosphere would be to use a Standard Three-Point Lighting system. This would entail setting up three spotlights at different angles, all facing towards our protagonist, which would lessen the contrast and shadows around the protagonist. One of the lights would act as a 'back light' adding to the overall brightness of the room and providing definition and subtle highlights around the subject. The other 'fill light' acts as the secondary light, placed next to the 'key light' which will be a softer light located at more of a distance from the subject. And finally the 'key light' acting as the main, strongest emitting light place on one of the sides of the subject, in this case it (see frame above) it would be positioned slightly off-centre as to avoid blare from the light and to make sure the subject is well lit whilst reinforcing a shadow-effect, which can be seen towards the right wall of the frame. As to avoid making the same mistakes the second time shooting these scenes I have decided to conduct some research into video-making and learning more about how to operate the video-camera we are using, which is the Panasonic Video Camera. 

Whilst this frame does succeed in creating a dark, chilling atmosphere we would need the frame to be lighter to portray the sense of daylight and the protagonist awaking after a long sleep. However, we will keep the same angle and shot type as it effectively captured the protagonist's movement of jolting up as if suddenly being brought to life. This captures the protagonist moving out of her episode of sleep paralysis as she regains movement and her breath. We will also make sure to adjust the IRIS setting on our Panasonic Video Camera so that the camera, internally creates a brighter sharper image, thus means we don't have to use the lighting exclusively to create brightness, highlights and shadows. The editing process will also allow us to either brighten or darken the setting to match the tone of the scene and also has a useful effect that can change a bright scene from 'Day to Night' therefore if we re-shoot the scene too brightly then we will be able to adjust it to create a dark, unearthly atmosphere. 

Monisha Roy (MR)

3. Frame deconstruction and analysis

4. Frame deconstruction and analysis

After watching over all the clips we have filmed so far, we sorted through them together as a group to decide which once we wanted to use and which one we didn't need and need re-shoot, these scenes are two of the scenes that we wanted to re-shoot as the lighting is too dark and the screen is a bit grainy, so we want to change the lighting and also change the focus as it is a bit blurry as well however we do want to to keep the camera angle the same. 

Although both of the frameworks create the dark and eerie look we originally wanted however it makes it hard to see the blood on the protagonists hands,as our protagonists has dark skin which made it hard to see the blood as the lighting we used was very dark, to fix this we decided to re film these two scenes with more side-light and also try with different intensity of light to see which one works with skin tone and also still be able to have the chilling atmosphere to the scene.